Sawgrass Village Redevelopment Project Moves Forward

According to a recent press release, the much-anticipated initial redevelopment of Sawgrass Village is set to commence shortly. Officials of Publix Supermarkets, CVS/pharmacy, Arris Realty Partners, Genesis Real Estate Advisers, and Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers LLC announced they have finalized their agreements and are ready to begin work.

All of the necessary permits have been issued and redevelopment of the center is set to begin before the end of January. The first noticeable sign of the redevelopment will come when Publix Supermarkets closes its doors on its existing 39,000-square-foot grocery store on January 12th.

Publixs closing will make way for the demolition of its store later that month, followed by the construction of a new 49,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art Publix Supermarket. Plans call for a grand opening of the new Publix by early December 2013. The existing CVS/pharmacy will continue to operate in its current location while its new pharmacy is being constructed adjacent to the new Publix. Once complete, CVS/pharmacy will move from their current store and seamlessly open in their new location in the fall of 2013.

Arris and Genesis were hired to plan, coordinate, and implement the redevelopment of Sawgrass Village. According to Steven Cadranel, President of Arris, Weve been planning for this day for a long time and actually began the physical redevelopment of Sawgrass Village with the relocation Wickets / Wickets for Kids, Marcias Place, Apropos, Patchington, Lemon Twist, Lings Alterations, Village Arts, and Sawgrass Nails in February of 2012. It was necessary to relocate those merchants first in order to make room for the expanded Publix and the new alignment of the main entry drive. Those boutiques, along with Chicos, Caffé Andiamo, Savelberg Cleaners, Cadeau, Village Jewelers, Elizabeths Café, Aqua Grill, Wells Fargo Bank, ABC Liquor, and the Hilton Garden Inn including the merchants in the base level as well as the office buildings along the lake front have been a mainstay of Sawgrass Village for many years and will continue to operate throughout construction of the new Publix and CVS/pharmacy. The new drive will make these merchants and the entire center more accessible from A1A and improve the circulation and connectivity to portions of the center that were only accessible from PGA Tour Boulevard.

Our shop merchants have patiently waited over the years hoping for the day someone would breathe new life into Sawgrass Village. They have been incredible to work with and are all very pleased with their new locations and the improvements weve already begun making to the property, said Steve Tart, Managing Director of Genesis. And we are already busy working to accommodate interest from a number of new merchants and restaurants -eager to be a part of the new center.

The newly aligned entry drive will be open prior to this years TPC Tournament and will be a big boon to the center. Once CVS/pharmacy opens in its new location its current store will be razed to make way for 16,000 square feet of new main street shops. The new shops will be complete and open for business by spring 2014.

We appreciate the loyal support our customers have shown our Sawgrass Village Publix store over the years said Dwaine Stevens of Publix Supermarkets. Closing a store is never easy, but it was the only way we could continue to best serve our customers for the many years to come. We look forward to all the improvements planned for Sawgrass Village and the opening of our new Publix store featuring more natural, organic, unique and prepared food choices in the Publixs tradition of great customer care.

With the new design and improvements, we anticipate Sawgrass Village returning as the true hub of shopping and dining in Ponte Vedra, shared Gay and Cliff Brown, owners of Wickets and Wickets Kids. We are excited to have such a professional team involved in this project as we kick off our 30th year in business. Our thanks go out to all participating in making these changes and especially to our loyal long time customers for their continued support Let the bulldozers begin.

Master site plan from 2011

Reaching this point required a careful coordination of many different interested parties and making sure the disruption to retailers during their critical Easter, The Players Club Tournament, Thanksgiving, and Christmas holiday seasons was just part of the challenge. From all the input weve received we know our merchants and the community are anxious for us to begin work restoring vitality to this iconic property, added Cadranel. Were excited with everything that is about to unfold and expect the best is still yet to come. The centers new architectural style will pay particular attention to the overall pedestrian shopping experience. Plans for Phase II are currently being reviewed by the Sawgrass Players Club Home Owners Association. Once completed, the final product is envisioned to be a walk-able, vibrant, exciting people place that brings a true shopping district to the Ponte Vedra community.

Beginning February, 2013 you can follow the existing merchants and progress of the redevelopment at: sawgrassvillagepvb.com